Little House in the 21st Century
by jennings4u
Summary: The Ingalls and Wilder families find themselves over a hundred years into the future. They find things have changed quite a bit and with the help of a present day schoolteacher, they will have to learn to adapt to the present day life.
1. Prologue Part 1: The Past

**Author's Note:**

This story takes place after the season 7 episode **The In-Laws**.

**Little House in the 21st Century  
**

_by _j_ennings4u_

**Prologue Part 1: The Past**

The kitchen of the Wilder home was in an uproar. The argument about who was responsible for the dinner disaster was still raging on between Charles Ingalls and Almonzo Wilder. Together they both completely ruined everything that was editable from the menu.

While they were too busy fighting over who was at more fault they were completely oblivious to the fact that their wives were absent from the dinning room. Laughter engulfed Caroline Ingalls and her daughter Laura Ingalls Wilder as they walked over to Nellie's restaurant to get themselves some dinner. They knew their husband's cooking was a lost cause and they didn't plan on going hungry.

By the time Charles and Almanzo realized they were gone, it was already too late. They had missed dinner. When Charles finally got around to getting home he found that all he was left with to eat was a small portion of day old stew. For the second night in a row Charles went to bed hungry.

Later that night as the Ingalls and Wilder homes slept a storm began to form. At first it was nothing out of the ordinary, just some light rain and the occasional bolt of lightning and crack of thunder. As the night progressed thought it began to get much worse. The light rain turned into a downpour and the sky was lit with bright flashes and the ground shook from the sound of the thunder.

All this commotion was enough to wake Albert Ingalls from his sleep. He always had trouble sleeping when there was noise, especially snoring, which Laura was so good at producing. It didn't look like he was going to get much sleep tonight either. He got out of bed and headed over to the window.

"Its sure looks bad out there." he mumbled to himself.

The sky looked wild as if it were angry about something. He was just about to go back into bed when something caught his eye. In the distance he saw a flash of white in the shape of a diamond appear from the ground. Before he could do anything the house violently shook and he was knocked to the ground. He tried to get up but was knocked down again from another shake.

As he looked around he noticed everything was turning white. He started to feel really sleepy and he began to doze off. Just before he lost consciousness he saw the diamond shape light once again.


	2. Prologue Part 2: The Present

**Prologue Part 2:The Present**

Josh Matherson woke up earlier than usual that Friday morning. He had set his alarm for 5:00 but he woke up around 4:30 and decided just to stay up. He did his regular routine of showering, getting dressed and having his morning coffee. Since he had extra time that morning he went out for breakfast. He had a western omelet and a couple more cups of coffee and then he was up on his way.

He was a English high school teacher and he usually would get there by 6:30 so he could prepare for the day and get caught up on any work he had. It took him a little extra time getting to school because their was an accident on the highway so he had to take the back way. The road conditions were pretty bad due to the previous night's snow storm and he knew they should of canceled school.

The school principal Mr. Evans would only cancel school though if it was absolutely necessary and given the fact it was the last day before Christmas break, it would have to be a raging blizzard before he would call it. He took a good look outside at the thick snowflakes falling from above and shook his head.

"Michigan weather alright." he said to himself.

When he finally got to the school he found that it hadn't even been plowed or salted so he had one heck of a time getting into his parking place. Once he was parked he got out of his car, grabbed his bags and headed for the front doors. They were already unlocked because Filton the janitor was always there before anyone else.

He stepped inside and stomped his shoes off in the warm heated building. He walked down to the office to check his box for any and found the light was already on. The secretaries Kim and Bonnie didn't get there until quarter after seven so he wondered who was here. His question was answered when he seen the principal, Mr. Evans, sitting at his desk in his office.

Mr. Evans didn't usually come until later on to so this was kind of a surprise. Josh grabbed his papers from his box and took off towards his classroom. On his way there he ran into Filton, who was repairing a broken desk in the hall. Filton stopped what he was doing and moved toward him.

"Good mornin' Mr. Matherson, Hows life treatin' ya lately?"

"The sames as always Filton, keeping me busy, how about yourself?"

"Just fussin' with these darn desks again."

"Breaking again I see?"

"You know something, if I had a dollar for everyone I tun'd up this year I'd be a rich man."

Josh smiled.

"I bet you would be."

Filton lifted up his old bony finger and started shaking it frantically.

"What I oughta do is give that Mr. Evans a piece of my mind for keepin' these old junk wads around in the first place."

"I don't think that would be a wise thing to do Filton."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I need this job anyways."

"Hopefully next year he'll come to his senses and get us all some new desks."

"I hope so."

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot work to get done before class."

"Of course, of course. Have a kindly sort of day Mr. Matherson!"

"You to Filton."

Josh started back down the hall. Filton was a nice guy but if you get him mad he has an awful temper. Luckily he's all bark and no bite. He's never stood up to Mr. Evans though, buts thats probably because he values his job more than his pride.

When he finally reached his room, he reached in his pocket for his keys. After unlocking the door he hung up his coat and took a seat at his desk. He had given a lot of tests out that week and that meant he had a lot of things to grade. He wanted to get as much done today as possible so he would have all of break to relax. If he wanted that to happen though he knew he had to get busy.

After school he decided to stay in for a couple extra hours to get the remainder of his work finished. At 6:00 he was ready to get going so he threw on his coat and headed out the door. He stopped in at a local diner to get something to eat because he hadn't gone grocery shopping yet and he really didn't want to make anything anyway.

After a nice steak dinner, he took off for home. The weather was starting to get bad again and he didn't want to be out later than he had to. He reached home just when the heavy snow was coming down and he grabbed his bags and went inside. He had a rather nice house which he kept pretty clean.

It had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an upstairs, a basement and a garage. It was quite empty for a single person like him but he figured when it came time to tie the knot he wanted to have plenty of room. He went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee and ended up turning the radio on for some Christmas tunes.

He went to work finishing his papers and finished at about 8:30. After he was done he went in the living room and watched some TV for an hour and then read for about fifteen minutes. He was getting tired so he decided to call it a night and went off to bed. At about three in the morning he was woken up by what sounded like thunder.

He got up and looked outside and saw nothing but snow. Suddenly he began to hear a swishing and swirling sound forming behind him. He turned around just in time to see a large diamond shape flash that blinded him for a few seconds. When he finally regained his eyesight he was puzzled by what or should I say who he saw.


	3. The Encounter

**Chapter 1:The Encounter**

People covered his bedroom floor. There were seven of them altogether, scattered all over the room. Two men, two women, a boy and two girls. They were all sleeping and had what looked like sleepwear on. Josh was completely dumbstruck.

He had just woken up because of that noise and now there was a bunch of people he had never seen before sleeping in his room. Why were they there? How did they just appear out of nowhere? Who are they? He had no answers to these questions but he intended to find some.

While he was thinking, one of them stirred. Josh's eyes darted towards the movement. It was the boy. He let out a soft groan and proceeded to open his eyes. He look around for a few seconds and when his eyes met with Josh's, a look of panic spread over his face. He scampered to his feet, all the while keeping his eyes on Josh. He finally spoke.

"Where are we?"

"Your in my bedroom."

He looked around a bit more and seemed kind of puzzled. Josh didn't blame him because this whole situation was puzzling for him to. He had never heard of anything like this.

People just don't appear in someones room at night. People don't appear out of nowhere in general. There was something unnatural about the whole thing.

"Why?"

"I wish I could answer that but I don't know myself."

"But..."

Someone in the corner began to move. It was one of the men. He had dark curly hair and he looked like the oldest in the group. He opened his eyes and looked around. His reaction was very similar to the boy's and he was soon on his feet.

Others began to wake up to. In no time all of the group were on their feet looking at him. The dark haired man spoke up first.

"Whats going on?"

"I was hoping you could answer that because I just don't know. There was a bright light and you all just appeared out of nowhere. I have no explanation."

The second man with blond hair was next to speak.

"You mean to tell us we just appeared here? I remember getting into bed at my own house last night and now suddenly I'm here? What the heck is going on?"

"As I said before I don't know."

"That's hard to believe."

The blond man stepped forward in a threatening manner. The dark haired man put a hand on his shoulder as to ease him and then spoke.

"I just don't know how we got here. The last thing I remember before waking up here was being in my bed at home. I went to sleep just fine and now were here. I just don't get it."

"All I know is what I saw. I know its crazy but its what happened. How else are do you explain all of you being here."

Blondy joined the conversation again.

"We are supposed to believe that? We just somehow appeared here for no reason. I don't buy that. How do we know that you didn't do something to us while we were sleeping and bring us here?"

Is this guy serious? I just woke up and had a bunch of people appear in my room and now I'm getting blamed for it. I don't think so.

"What you're saying is that I single handedly brought all seven of you to my bedroom in the middle of the night without you knowing? You've got to be kidding me!"

He still wasn't going to back down.

"At least its better than saying that we just appeared here."

This guy was getting on his nerves. Josh turned to the dark haired man.

"Where are you from?"

"Walnut Grove."

Walnut Grove, he'd never heard of it.

"Where is that at?"

"We're apart of Hero township"

It still didn't ring any bells. Maybe he was going about it the wrong way.

"What state are you from?"

"Minnesota of course."

Minnesota? How in the world did they get all the way here?

"What time did you go to bed?"

The dark haired man thought for a second.

"At around 10:30"

Josh turned his attention to blondy.

"You mean to tell me that I brought all of from Minnesota to Michigan in four and a half hours during this kind of weather?"

"Michigan!" he exclaimed.

"That's right, Grand Rapids to be exact."

One of the little girls who was closest to the window looked outside.

"Look Pa its snowing!"

They all gathered around the window.

The brown haired man looked shocked.

"It snows here in the middle of spring?"

What was he talking about?

"Its almost winter."

"That's impossible! We've already had winter."

"Not yet, were just getting into it."

"There's something very wrong going on here!"

About that he was 100% correct.

"I completely agree."

Josh noticed how cramped the room was.

"How about we go downstairs, there's a lot more room there."

They all agreed and headed down. It was time for some answers.


	4. Revelations

**Chapter 2:Revelations **

Once downstairs, Josh turned the lights on so they could actually see something. In doing so he seemed to startle his newfound guests.

"How did you do that?"

It was the reddish haired lady that seemed to be with blondy?

"Do what?"

"Light all those lanterns on the ceiling at once. I mean you didn't even touch them!"

Lanterns? What in the world was she talking about?

"I didn't light any lanterns, I just turned the lights on."

"But how?"

"By flipping the switch."

"I could see that, but how did you get them all on at once just by flipping some old switch?"

"Haven't you ever heard of a little thing called electricity?"

"No."

"How do you think everything is powered?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean where do you think all your appliances get their power?"

"Appliances?"

"Things like your fridge, microwave..."

"I've never even heard of any of those things!"

Was this lady trying to play mind games with him? I mean come on, what idiot hasn't ever heard of electricity or doesn't know what modern appliances are? Maybe that was it, she might be partially retarded. He'd met people before that were mentally retarded and some of them didn't know what certain things were or had their own name for them. He finally understood.

"Never mind, I don't think thats the important thing now."

He was tired and he didn't feel like letting that conversation go on any further.

"The table is in the dinning room, this way."

He pointed in the direction of the table. Once they were all at the table he grabbed a few extra chairs so everyone could be seated. After they all were was sitting (They all looked like a group gathered at a pajama party.), Josh started off the talking. They needed to get some things figured out. He directed his attention to the dark haired man.

"Before we even discuss anything, I think we should get properly acquainted. I'm Josh Matherson."

The dark haired man nodded and shook his hand. The man had a strong grip.

"I'm Charles Ingalls and this is my wife Caroline, my daughter Laura and my son-in-law Almanzo Wilder."

He exchanged hellos and was reluctant at first but shook Almanzo's hand.

"My son Albert, my daughter Carrie and my youngest daughter Grace."

There was something about their names that he just couldn't put his finger on. Something very familiar about them. No matter, he just hoped all the tension between them was relieved. Blondy, I mean Almanzo, hurled everyone back into reality.

"Now that we all know each other, how are we going to find out what happened and what are we going to do?"

"Well..."

The girl named Carrie rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Ma, I'm tired!"

"Me to!"

That came from little Grace. He wasn't surprised that they were tired, after all it was the middle of the night and they were just kids. Heck, he was tired himself.

"There's bedrooms upstairs. You're welcome to them if you'd like them to get some sleep?

Charles's wife Caroline looked over at her husband. He gave an approving nod and she walked over to the stairs with the two little ones.

"They're the two rooms at the far end of the hallway."

She glanced at him and smiled.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

After that they headed upstairs.

"Albert, you'd better get up there to."

"Please Pa, I'm not tired at all!"

"Albert..."

"But Pa I got something important to say about what happened."

"What is it?"

"Well, I went to bed normal just like I always do. I woke up later because of how loud the storm was getting. It was even louder than Laura's snoring."

Laura glared at him. Almanzo let out a little chuckle.

"Anyways, I got out of bed so I could see what it was like outside. Thats when I saw something."

"What was it?"

"I'm not exactly sure, it was like a flicker of light that just came out of nowhere."

"You sure it wasn't just lightning?"

"No Pa, it wasn't, It was bright white and shaped kind of like a diamond."

Diamond! Thats what the light looked like when they first appeared.

"The light I saw when you all came was in the shape of a diamond to."

"Thats not all though, something else happened. The light just disappeared out of nowhere. A little while later when I went back to my bed, everything began to shake. I fell down and wasn't able to keep my balance long enough to get up. I felt really tired and I ended up falling asleep. The last thing I remember was seeing that diamond light again. It was really bright this time and it covered the whole room."

Josh looked over at Almanzo.

"Hear any similarities?"

Charles was still focused on Albert.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I don't know, I didn't remember. It sorta came back to me just know."

Caroline came back downstairs.

"The girls are asleep."

"At least someone is." Almanzo added.

Josh walked over to the window. It was a white out outside. He could barely see a few feet out the window. He knew that it had to be bad out there. He looked around at all the people at the table. They all looked tired and worn out. He felt exactly the same way as they looked. His eyes were heavy and he had a hard time concentrating. That was probably due to his long week. He looked back outside. There is no way they are going anywhere anytime soon when the weather was this crappy.

"I don't think we're going to get much accomplished tonight. I don't know about any of you but I'm downright beat and I could use some extra sleep. No one is going to be able to go anywhere anytime soon in this kind of weather, so I think we should all get some sleep. A good nights rest will do us all some good and it'll give us a chance to clear our heads."

Charles looked around at his family, then at Josh.

"I think you're right. A little rest won't hurt and we can figure everything out tomorrow."

Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

"Alright then as I said before I have the two extra bedrooms upstairs and I have a pull out couch in the living room. There's also another couch down in the basement someone can use. It will probably be easier to put you and Mrs. Ingalls in the upstairs room and the Wilders in the living room. That way the couples are together."

They all nodded.

"I'll come and help you set up that couch."

"What about me?"

It was the boy, Albert.

"You'll have the couch downstairs all to yourself."

He pulled the boy aside.

"You're the lucky one you know. That couch has to be the most comfortable thing I've ever slept on!"

He smiled.

"Is it quiet down there?"

"Quiet as can be."

His smile grew.

"That's great to hear!"

"Plus if you can't sleep I have a big screen down there that you're free to watch."

"Whats s big screen?"

"You know a big TV."

"A TV?"

Not this again.

"You don't know what a TV is?"

He shook his head. He couldn't believe that there was anyone alive today that didn't know what a TV was. He was joking either because his face held a very serious look. He had to find something out. He caught Charles just as he was heading up the stairs.

"Are all of you Amish?"

He was probably a little bold in saying that but he just had to know.

"Whats Amish?"

"Its when you choose not to involve yourself with technology of the times and lead very simple lives."

"I suppose you could call my life simple but I don't separate myself from technology."

"Then how does your son not know what a TV is then?"

"A what?"

"You got to be kidding me. What person from the 21st century doesn't know what a television is?"

All the movement in the room stopped. All eyes were on him.

"What century did you say?"

"The 21st..."

"What do you mean the 21st century, its only the 19th century."

That came from Laura. Was she crazy?

"Its the 21st century. What kind of education have you had?"

"The best and thats why I'm sure its the 19th century. I am a teacher you know."

A teacher! She couldn't be. She was... Something just occurred to him. It was as if the gears in his head had turned on since the first time they came. It was a revelation in sorts. Ingalls, Wilder and Laura.

He knew he had heard those names before but he couldn't place where from until know. Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was the author of the** Little House on the Prairie** books. It was a well known book series about the life of a girl in the late eighteen hundreds. He had encountered those books many times before in his teaching career.

This had to be some kind of joke. He looked back at all of them. They did look like something you would see a hundred years ago. Come to think of it he had never seen modern sleepwear that looked quite like those.

This was absurd. The only way that could really be them is if they had somehow traveled through time. That was impossible though. They were probably just a bunch of people dressed up having some fun with him.

If that was the case though then how did that explain the light and them just appearing out of nowhere. It didn't, thats why he had to check something.

"I'll be right back." he announced and he ran upstairs to his bedroom. He quickly logged onto his computer and accessed the Internet. Once he was online he searched for pictures of the Ingalls and Wilder families taken back in the 1800's. He came across one. His eyes widened and his hands began to sweat. His heart was racing and he just stood still. He couldn't believe it. It was them.


End file.
